Discovery launches New Form digital studio

Factual channel specialist Discovery is launching a new programming model, New Form, and linking with the creative expertise of Ron Howard and Brian Grazer’s Imagine Entertainment to turn out new content.

Discovery CEO David Zaslav is expected to make a formal announcement April 3rd, but the concept is to appeal to younger viewers who are tending to watch YouTube. “One of the things we saw is that great storytelling could work in the scripted arena but there wasn’t a lot of it,” said Zaslav, in a report in trade magazine Variety. “So we sat down with two of the best scripted storytellers of our generation in Ron and Brian, looked at the space and saw a real opportunity.”

Grazer said many existing shows threw up interesting people who have stories that do not necessarily translate to a 30-minute episode, or a 2-hour movie.

The consortium has hired Kathleen Grace to run the unit. Grace was previously head of creative development for YouTubeSpace LA.